I missed this story yesterday, there is so much going on at present one has difficulties browsing through the propaganda written about our elected government. Clive Palmer must think he is above the law, why is he using staff to send letters to Citic implying that he is in a position of power in this country, fourth largest political party in Australia what does that exactly mean, are the Greens bigger than Clive? From memory Clive won his seat by a number of under sixty votes. Clive doesn’t want to talk about the twelve million dollars that has been wrongly spent or gone missing, worse still he wants to shut any person down who is seeking answers on this small matter. No one not even politicians should be above the law. Citic: Clive Palmer plays politics card The Australian | August 30, 2014 12:00AM Hedley Thomas National Chief Correspondent Brisbane Sarah Elks Reporter Brisbane CLIVE Palmer’s political power was raised by his top executive in a written warning to the heads of China’s state-owned investment company to back off in their legal case accusing the tycoon of dishonesty over $12 million In a formal letter obtained by The Weekend Australian yesterday, Mr Palmer’s general manager, Vimal Sharma, warns the Chinese company’s Beijing and Hong Kong-based heads that they are attacking “Australia (sic) fourth largest political party of which our chairman is leader”. The document was sent on official letterhead from Mr Palmer’s Mineralogy company on May 12 to Chang Zhenming, the chairman of Citic Group Corporation in Beijing, as well as two other executives in Hong Kong and Perth. The letter was sent days after The Australian revealed the Chinese company was formally accusing Mr Palmer of wrongfully taking its money. The letter claims it is “against the foreign policy of China” for Citic to be pursing legal actions and making serious courtroom allegations against Mr Palmer, who denies wrongfully siphoning $12.167m of Chinese funds to bankroll his Palmer United Party’s campaign for the federal election last year. The letter claims that China’s “scandalous” actions are damaging as China’s foreign policy “is for the non-interference in the domestic political affairs of a country” (Australia). The letter, a legal document that is not covered by a temporary Supreme Court confidentiality order granted to Mr Palmer over sensitive evidence about the $12.167m, highlights how the tycoon’s commercial interests with China have become entwined with his political power. It warns China: “As (Citic) is a (Chinese) state owned company, Mineralogy and the Australian community when properly informed will view this as a serious matter.” Mr Palmer, who spent more than $10m on his political campaign after starting PUP last year, has previously tried to allay public concern about the intersection of his political and commercial interests. He has repeatedly pledged that he had stepped away from his companies and had left their management to others. Sources close to Mr Palmer’s companies have told The Weekend Australian that he remained closely involved and was still making most of the key decisions behind the scenes. Mr Palmer did not respond to questions from The Weekend Australian yesterday. The letter from Mineralogy is now part of an affidavit sworn by lawyer Charles Blaxill, from the firm Allens, which is acting for the Chinese company in several cases in the Supreme Court, Federal Court and in confidential arbitration proceedings. The most serious case revolves around claims of a breach of trust by Mr Palmer and his company over the allegedly “dishonest procuring” of $12m. It is to be heard by Queensland Supreme Court judge David Jackson in November. More than 200 pages of evidence related to the case have now been removed from public scrutiny as a result of an order by Justice Jackson on Wednesday. The order came after Mr Palmer’s lawyers told the court that some of the material needed to be kept “strictly confidential” to preserve his reputation, and to prevent Citic being able to achieve “leverage” in its ongoing dispute over royalty payments from shipments of iron ore. Mr Palmer, who has described the serious dishonesty allegations against him as being “founded on fiction”, is trying to have Citic’s case tossed out of court or permanently stayed. The allegations made by Citic about the $12m are likely to be referred to police. Mr Palmer has accused the Chinese company of an “abuse of process” and of trying to damage his reputation by filing confidential evidence from closed-door arbitration proceedings, which are being run by retired Supreme Court judge Richard Chesterman QC. Mr Palmer’s case will be heard by Justice Jackson late next month. Legal documents and bank statements filed in court and seen by The Weekend Australian show Mr Palmer siphoned $10m from a National Australia Bank account, called Port Palmer Services, in August last year and funnelled it to his company, Cosmo Developments. A further $2.167m was withdrawn from the same NAB account a few days before the September 7 federal election. The documents show that $2.167m went to a Brisbane advertising agency, Media Circus Network, which booked and placed PUP’s election advertising. Mineralogy told Citic Pacific that the money was spent on “port management services”, however, Mineralogy was not operating the port at the time of the two huge withdrawals, which dwarfed all previous expenses. The allegations of “fraud” and “dishonesty” have been levelled in the Supreme Court by Citic because it claims that Mr Palmer’s company was only permitted to spend the account’s funds on the operation of a port for the export of iron ore to China from his tenements in Western Australia. Citic Pacific has also alleged that a “sham” document was created in a fraudulent bid to legitimise the withdrawal of the money after the Chinese concerns were raised. Mr Palmer has subsequently described the funds that were deposited by China as his to spend how he saw fit. Barrister Tom Bradley QC, for Mr Palmer, last week argued there was no allegation — let alone any evidence — to suggest the businessman benefited personally from the allegedly misspent $12m.
Posted on: Sun, 31 Aug 2014 01:35:53 +0000
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